Shark sucker

When I was a kid I had the Time-Live book: The Sea. I dearly loved that little book, and one of the neat things I learned about was a fish called the remora, or “shark sucker.”1 The remora attaches itself to a shark and the much larger shark carries the little fish around with it.

The remora metaphor came to mind when I heard of the most recent example of a birther trying to attach himself to a bigger story. The remora is “self-proclaimed intelligence expert” (Jerome Corsi’s words) Michael Shrimpton and the shark/big fish is Edward Snowden. Snowden was an international news sensation after leaking NSA secrets to the press. Of course what Snowden hasn’t released is a black box to the public, and a black box could contain anything, so birther Shrimpton uses it to add credibility to his own incredible story. You can read that story at WorldNetDaily in an article by Jerome Corsi. Corsi wrote:

In conversations with WND, nevertheless, Shrimpton doubled down on the claims he made in 2008 by asserting that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, as part of his negotiations to leave Hong Kong, agreed to deliver to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow the classified U.S. military intelligence file on Obama’s DNA.

How an NSA guy was able to purloin military intelligence files is a question worth asking, right after one asks how Shrimpton knows Putin’s secrets.

In all fairness to Corsi, he is not overly sympathetic to Shrimpton, writing among other things:

Government intelligence experts on both sides of the Atlantic marginalized Shrimpton as a loud-mouthed nuisance and gadfly who lacks professional credentials as an intelligence expert.

Shrimpton has his own legal problems, having been charged with making a false report to police of a terrorist plot in 2012.

When I interviewed Snowden while I was in Moscow in 2013, I asked him about any intelligence regarding Obama. Snowden told that he only had access to secrets involving NSA surveillance.2

15 Responses to Shark sucker

Does everybody but me know that Shrimpton was indicted in the UK, apparently some time ago? I just found out from a BR post about a Corsi WND article. Corsi naturally wants this to be all about Obama, but here’s what he says Shrimpton was indicted for: “Shrimpton has been indicted for having telephoned in 2012 the secretary of state for defense in London and declaring that a nuclear weapon stolen from the Russian submarine Kursk that sank in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12, 2000, had been smuggled into Britain. Shrimpton said the smugglers were agents of a top-secret German intelligence agency that intended to detonate the weapon to cause massive damage and murder members of the Royal family and top government officials attending the London Olympics.”

If you read Shrimpton’s columns, the bad guy in every story is a top-secret German intelligence agency.

Corsi also says this about the birthers’ favorite intelligence expert: “… Shrimpton has never held an official government job …”

Dave: Does everybody but me know that Shrimpton was indicted in the UK, apparently some time ago?

This is from a British site called “Court News UK.”

“A barrister accused of making hoax claims to a senior Ministry of Defence official about a bomb being hidden at an east London hospital is to stand trial next year. Michael Shrimpton, 56, allegedly told Barry Burton, a close colleague of Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond, that an explosive device was at Newham Hospital. Shrimpton, the author of conspiracy theory book, Spyhunter, is also said to have made bogus bomb claims to the offices of David Liddington, MP for Aylesbury, the following day, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Actually, i think the only nexus between Snowden and Shrimpy is in Shrimpy’s fetid imagination, as would appear to be a great many other things I don’t want to go near. I thought Lord Monkey’s Butt was a certified whack job until this one appeared out from under his rock, and now I’m thinking he has surpassed the mathematically delusional one on all fronts. Actually, I can’t imagine Snowden getting anywhere near Shrimpy since he wants more than anything to be taken seriously, and even a nodding acquaintance with Shrimpy would end that.

Ahhh, in a wondrous conflation of guano insanity, Shrimpton is now being supported by his fellow fantasist and LSOS, “Lord” Monckton.

Yep, Ole Monkey Pants has been hauled into the Shrimp Brained Ones Mount of Merde, reported by that oh so trustworthy paragon of journalistic integrity and walking rash on the arse of humanity, Jerome “The Gnome” Corsi

So Lent is over. I dropped by BR just now to look at comments on their Shrimpton article with a big title graphic: “KEEP CALM: THE BRITS ARE COMING.”

I left this comment:

Children like to play fantasy games, and sometimes adults do too. It’s all good fun until someone starts to believe it’s real, in this case Shrimpton. There’s no way Shrimpton has access to the internal affairs of Vladimir Putin, any more than Snowden would have access to military intelligence files on Obama.

How would DNA prove Mombasan birth — or for that matter, any place of birth? Point well taken that any info regarding Obama’s descent would vanishingly unlikely be found in STA info. Just another poorly conceived birther fiction.

Sorry I didn’t catch how my dumb phone changed what I wrote — Mombasan — to Monahan. It frequently decides that it knows better than I what I intended to write.

[FIFY. Doc]

Welcome

Obama Conspiracy Theories since 2008 has been your des­tination for conspiracy theories and fringe views about Barack Obama. Having an argu­ment with your buddies at the office? You're in the right place. Use the Search box below or check out our featured articles. If you don't agree with what you see, feel free to add your thoughts to the over 250,000 comments others have left. To leave a comment not on the current articles, visit the Open Thread.

Quote of the day

Conspiracies

Conspiracies

Sometimes people leave comments designed to offend or outrage the reader, and invoke a firestorm of protest in response. These are the Internet trolls. Replying to them is feeding them and they will come back for more. Refusing to play their game encourages them to go away.